Chained Wings

A Stroll in Central Park

---POV Res---

 I looked up from my book and grinned. “Of course. Did you think I would miss out on a rare opportunity to go out with you?” I said. I mean it is the truth. We haven’t gone out on a real date once yet. I laid on the sarcasm not really caring. I enjoyed the look on his face when he crossed the room and sat next to me. He shifted his collar a bit while he assessed my outfit. I went for a white blazer with matching shorts and a black tank top and black stiletto heels. I’m not too sure what we will be doing today, but I thought this was a good choice.

“Cute.”

Man of many words, this one. I rolled my eyes and slid over to sit next to him. He lifted his arm and I leaned into his side. It is nice…and refreshing. I just enjoy him around to be honest. “Thank you, Faron.” I sighed inwardly. It was finally getting easier to say his name.

He sighed and rubbed his face. I guess the meeting was a tough one. I can ask him about it later, but I definitely don’t want to ruin the moment. “Where do you want to go?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I’m not sure. We usually go to that one human club you like so much, but there are a few restaurants we can go to for lunch and we can hang out in the human realm for once. Ooooo can we go to New York City?! I really want to go there.” I said happily.

He started laughing and the stress dissipated from his no longer furrowed brow. The club isn’t considered a date. It was a place where we could go to…play. “You want to go to New York?” He said with a mischievous grin. I’m sure he already knows what we can do there.

“Yes, not everyone gets to travel to all the realms.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Well, with a sister like yours, I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept the both of you under lock and key. Her mouth would cause an all-out war if left unsupervised.” He grumbled.

I rolled my eyes at the mention of her. Adeline is the definition of a big mouth. The worst part is her inability to read a room and they are making her the Queen in waiting? I don’t know if I should be happy about that or angry, but either way, less responsibility on me. “My sister…was she at the meeting today?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Just as insensitive as ever…?” He asked rhetorically. “Yes.”

Now I really don’t want to know what happened at that meeting. If my sister is involved, it’ll just make me regret being the same species as her…again. So, I did the next best thing. Changed the subject. I smirked and stood to stretch a bit. I didn’t realize how long I was sitting there. Maybe a good most of the day at this point. However, I still felt no pain. “What did you do to make the bruises…and the pain go away?” I asked curiously.

He opened his mouth then closed it just as quickly. He stood next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “With great care and diligence. Are you ready?” He asked, dodging the main question.

“Sure.” I said, not really wanting to push it. If he didn’t want to tell me, it’s probably best I don’t know. He could have given me some of his blood for all I know. I shivered at the thought. He scratched his brow and walked over to the second door adjacent to his bathroom. Turning the nob, he released a portal. I don’t know how he convinced the witches to make him one, but it is rather discreet and easy to use. The whole time, I thought it was just a closet until he showed me about a year ago.

Walking through the pixelated breeze was harder than a quick fairy portal, but Faron would need wings for that. In the same instance, I felt like this portal would go on forever, the honking and tire screeching of the Big Apple burst through my ears. My delight almost made me forget about the humans now surrounding us. I gasped and double checked to make sure the portal didn’t unseal my wings and sighed in relief. When I noticed they were carefully hidden and retracted, I was content. All I needed was a kid thinking I could take them to the second star on the right.

“First impressions?” Faron asked.

I grinned and spun around looking at every high rise and classic cab I could see. “Alive!” I shouted happily.

I felt his hand slip in mine and I turned to him. “I think you will like our next stop even better.” He whistled loudly and all the checkered cars came to a halt, honking vigorously. I guess they all needed a passenger. A couple of people swooped on the cars further ahead and we took the one closest to us. The man clicked a red button and the red numbers started to tick in a small box attached to the plastic between us.

I looked over at Faron slightly confused. I knew about New York in my imagination and in books versus in reality. When he told me to meet him at the human club, I wasn’t looking around and I’m not even too sure which city it’s actually in. I would just use a portal and appear there. He smirked at my quizzical look. “It’s the meter. We pay the man once he let’s us out and that thing will tell us how much to pay.”

He pointed to the numbers and the aged man cleared his throat as he confidently held the steering wheel. “Where to?” He asked. “I’ll get cha ‘dere no problem.” He concluded.

“Central Park, Upper East Side.” Faron answered calmly. Did he have a plan for this date already? I just picked out the place.

The man clicked his teeth. “Of course. Sit back and enjoy ‘da ride.” He added before punching it into oncoming traffic. To say the ride didn’t have me fearing for my life would be a complete lie. I held onto Faron’s hand like my life depended on it while he bobbed and weaved through cars…and people.

Once we finally made it to the destination, Faron gave him some cash and nodded to the man before climbing out and holding his hand out for me. I gently slipped my hands in his and he pulled me up to my feet and right into his arms. “Enjoying your date?” Faron asked.

I sighed in relief. I was just happy to get out of that car. “I’m in New York! I’m really enjoying my date, Faron.” I smiled brightly and nestled my head into his chest. The driver sped off and then I smelled it. My favorite flowers…roses. I spun around to see a blanket of roses cascading down an amazing archway covering a stone pathway. It was so beautiful, I didn’t know if touching it would ruin the moment, but I desperately wanted to see and smell all the wondrous flowers. I may be a tomboy at heart, but the one thing to make me giddy would definitely be a nice garden.

“Come.” Faron said and pulled me towards the beautiful foliage as he held onto my hand. Once we arrived at the balayage of color, I noticed there was a man sitting just outside the archway in a small booth.

“How many?” He asked.

“Two.” Faron replied.

He nodded and handed us two tickets and Faron added some money to the bucket outside the booth. “Thanks for the donation.”

Faron nodded and we walked off. For a species that cannot actually grow flowers from mana, they do an amazing job with their science and green thumbs. “Perfect.” I hummed.

“I hope so.” Faron said. As we walked through, I noticed all the colors and it was brilliant. “It’s an art exhibit from the university here. I really appreciated the school and enjoyed my time there about sixty years ago, so every so often I come back and see what strange spectacles the students have arrived at from their art school.”

I nodded, but I was more surprised about one thing in particular. “Wait, you never told me you went to a human college.” I said curiously. We do stop aging around twenty, so it’s not unheard of for us to go to college in the human realm around that time, but its really only a vampire and werewolf thing. It's much easier for us to be found out than them. Wings tend to be a dead give away. They stop aging around forty-five, so they only go once, but vampires continue to stay frozen at twenty and they tend to enjoy staying up to date on the collegiate studies of the century.

“I did, briefly. I wanted to take business management with Ayden’s father and see what I could learn. You know…branch out like his family did.” Faron clarified.

I nodded. “Wooooow, you really thought hard about it.”

He smirked. “I did because I want to tangibly create my future.”

I furrowed my brows and turned my attention to him and away from the hedge sculptures. “Tangibly?” I asked.

He sighed deeply and held out his arm, letting go of my hand. I intertwined my small arm around his forearm. “Life for purebloods, whether it be the Fae, Vampires, or Werewolves, it’s carved into our beings that our sole purpose is to maintain the family line. I really don’t care about all of that and neither does Ayden’s lineage. About two-hundred years ago, their alphas stopped coming to Walray Academy. They realized it is more important for the student to make the choice, not the family.”

I hummed and continued to walk side by side with him. “Shortly after that time, they were growing Rogue Industries exponentially. Therefore, Ayden and his father both decided it made more sense to stay with the humans and their school structure. Then they earned their spots as the CEO. It is important to make sure the child earns what they have. The offer was made to both him and his brother. You didn’t have to be the Head Alpha to also be the CEO. However, Ayden excelled and pushed for the spot on top of his alpha title. Granted, Mason didn’t want the position and…he’s of beta blood, Ayden still didn’t want the idea of privilege to identify his journey to RI’s CEO and Head Alpha.”

I guess that makes sense. “So, to you, it’s more important for people to be qualified, not born into the job they are given?”

He chuckled lightly and I looked around at the changes in the exhibit from one arch to another. “Yes, as it should have always been. Today was the last of their ancient methods being abolished. Higher rank or age shouldn’t be the only contributing factor. The children can fight for their spot or earn their respect to be in that spot, whether they are alpha, beta or otherwise.”

I turned to him again, slightly surprised. I was wondering what would happen if I was the queen in waiting instead of my sister. I know I would be much better suited for the role over her, purely on one fact. I see everyone. I know he said the last of the ancients have changed their ways, but I know he was intentionally leaving out the Fae. We are not really the ones to allow the younger child to be in power. “Maybe I should bring this up to the Fae council. I’m sure it would be shot down though.” I said, half-joking.

He grazed his finger underneath my chin and turned my eyes to his, stopping our feet in their tracks. “I want you to know, regardless of how people perceive your thoughts, it is important to say, out loud, how you think something should be done. That is how change starts.”

He let his hand drop and we started walking again. I fell silent at his response. Would it be better if I said something? I started to get lost in thought as I looked down at the intricately designed pavement. After a moment or two, Faron cleared his throat, pulling me out of my own thoughts, and I turned to face him. “The Gala is next week, right?” He asked.

Ugh. The gala.

All the higher ranking families of the Walray Academy join together after the festival break and ‘mingle’. It’s so stupid and I have never gone. I don’t want to see my sister and I have no interest in looking at a bunch of rich snobs looking down their noses at me. However, this statement was really random. Why was he bringing up the Gala? “Yes.” I slowly said suspiciously.

“Come with me.” He said.

What?!